"Don't rush, life is long and there's no race to be the first to do anything with indigo, it's all been done for thousands of years. The big question is how do you make it your own, and that takes years and years." – Rowland Ricketts
This year I have immersed myself in learning first-hand the age-old-traditions of growing, dying, and processing Indigo. Due to my years of experience in working on organic vegetable farms, I was able to start confident and strong with growing and harvesting Indigo; but then came the question of how to process indigo, meaning getting color from the plant onto fabric? There are many ways of dyeing with indigo and there's no one right or wrong way, just different reasons for choosing the one you work with. I am in the beginning stages of experimenting to find the method for processing that works best for me in the southern climate of Ausitn, Texas. To get started I'm learning the difference in dying with fresh indigo leaves (Direct Dying), and dying with dried and naturally fermented leaves (Vat Dying).
I seeded Japanese Indigo (Polygonum Tinctorium) seeds in January and it took exactly two weeks for them to germinate inside the greenhouse. If I had pre-soaked the seeds it could have speed up the germination process. After six weeks in the greenhouse the roots were mature enough to be transplanted. I removed the seedlings from the greenhouse and set them outside to harden them off for a couple of days.
I transplanted 525 japanese indigo seedlings the first week of March in a 700 square foot garden. For mulch I used burlap sacks (sourced from a local coffee roaster) they help to keep the weeds down, and retain moisture in the soil. I hand painted a sign to signify oficial commitment to my project and numbered the rows for record keeping.
One month after transplanting, the indigo was fully grown and ready for the first harvest. A month is a faster growing rate than most climates; through my research I had estimated 3 months from transplanting to first harvest. Apparently Japanese Indigo LOVES Texas... that is as long as I keep it irrigated.
To harvest, the Indigo is cut a few inches from the ground leaving the roots and some foliage on the plant. In a month the plants will grow back, and be ready for another harvest. The harvested Indigo plants are spread out on a tarp in the sun. The plants are left to dry in the sun for about a day or two. As they dry the Indigo leaves oxidize and turn slightly blue. When they are completely dry It's then time to stomp on them to separate the stems from the leaves. All the stems are removed and the remaining dried indigo leaves are heaped into a pile. I then bagged the indigo leaves into a breathable canvas bag and stored it in a cool dry place until the fall. After all that hard work I ended up with 5 pounds of dried indigo leaves.
I would like to give a BIG thank you to my indigo mentor, Rowland Ricketts. Rowland has been working with Japanese Indigo for over 15 years. He got his start in Japan as an apprentice to a Japanese Indigo farmer and a Japanese indigo dyer. Rowland has help me debunk the loads of false publications on Indigo. My fresh understanding of my resources has taught me to read things on Indigo with a grain of salt. Rowland has explained to me that most of the English-language books available on Indigo contain mis-information, or the majority of what is written is for the hobbyist, the backyard dyer who is doing their dyeing in a ball jar. The reason for this phenomenon is unknown but assumed to be a number of reasons. Possibly the well-meaning individuals who "researched" Indigo before writing articles and books on the topic may never have had a first-hand practical experience with the process. Or the well-meaning individuals were outright lied to because the crafts people they were talking to wanted to protect their trade secrets. As Rowland suggests, these lies then get put in print, cited in other works, and lead people astray. I am SO thankful for teachers like Rowland, who not only believe in open source information, but set out to share it.
